Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I decided on the Brother SE400 after reading all the rave reviews and the price was right. I have a new sewing machine that works fine so I was mainly interested in this machine for the embroidery function. So far I've owned this machine for 2 days and have stitched 6 designs (5 from the internet and 1 preloaded) added some lettering and sewn 1 pair of shorts for my granddaughter. The good parts: -The instructional CD is helpful, once you're smart enough to stick it in your computer and not your DVD player. -It is easy to set-up and get started. -It works, my friend who just purchased a $1000 machine (not a Brother) has had much difficulty getting her machine to work and has ruined several articles of clothing in learning, where this machine stiched out every design without so much as breaking one thread. -It is easy to download designs from a computer, but I haven't been successful yet at "saving" a design into the machine, which means if I didn't have a laptop I would be sewing in my office to hook to the desktop. -The adjusting function, to move the location of the design within the frame is helpful and works well -The resizing function works well, as does the rotating feature, both of which I found very useful. The bad parts: -The quick start guide is not helpful, it is only pictures with confusing flow lines, if it was all I had I would not be able to use the machine. It only makes sense AFTER you learn to use the machine. It should be titled Quick "Reference" Guide. But it does have the color pictures of the built-in designs. -Of the 70 built in designs, 26 of them are the Alphabet for using to monogram, of the other 44 I will probably only use about half of them. Be prepared to get on the internet to get useful designs -I've only tried so far to stitch out one font (but on more than one project) and the results were quite sub-standard, even after increasing the density, hopefully the other fonts will be more functional. -while I understood how to thread the machine and was able to do so successfully, I found it consistently "difficult" to thread in a couple areas - maybe arthritic fingers are to blame? The wish list: -as an entry level machine it would have been helpful to have a little more instruction on using stablizer and hooping skills. The information given is basically "use stablizer - put stuff in hoop". It assumes the operator has some knowledge of the zillion stablizers on the market and can automatically figure out where to put the hoop to get the design where it is desired on the garment. Obviously, this is slightly beyond the scope of machine operation, but these are two skills that you must master to be satisfied with the results - and everyone knows if I can't get the design centered and upright - it's the machine's fault! (she says facetiously) You should plan for: Budget another $100 to buy thread, stabilizer and stuff to stitch on. The bottom line: The machine is as advertised, it is easy to use. The designs it can stitch out are acceptable and wearable. The internet if full of free and low cost designs that will fit in the 4x4 area of this machine. If you are like me and couldn't justify spending the "big bucks" this is the perfect little starter machine to see if you really do want to get started in a new phase of the sewing craft. If you start to regret not being able to stitch more than a 4x4 area without rehooping (that regret comes to play really fast), just get out your checkbook and look at what you paid and it will be easier to move the hoop!